{"id":904302,"date":"2026-09-24T23:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904302\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T23:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:32:19","slug":"hundreds-of-feet-of-network-cable-and-steel-reimagine-rodins-thinker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904302\/","title":{"rendered":"hundreds of feet of network cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kasey McMahon rebuilds The Thinker from steel and cable<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Artist Kasey McMahon reimagines the contemplative figure for the networked age, constructing a life-size Thinker by hand from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/steel\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">steel<\/a> and hundreds of feet of network cable, the physical infrastructure through which contemporary information travels.<\/p>\n<p> A nod to Rodin\u2019s iconic contemplative figure, the work replaces the solidity of bronze with the tangled physical infrastructure of the networked world. McMahon began working with network cable as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/sculpture\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sculptural<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.designboom.com\/tag\/materials\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">material<\/a> more than a decade ago, drawn to the idea of turning the infrastructure behind our digital lives into something physical.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker for networked age - 1\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-thinker-reimagined-in-steel-and-data-cables-for-the-networked-age-1-6ab347a6b20c9.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\"\/><br \/>all images by Aaron Wessling \u2013 Single File Studio unless stated otherwise<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of feet of network cable form The Human Figure<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Thinker is the fourth life-size human figure in that ongoing body of work and the first male figure. The sculpture began with a welded steel armature that established the anatomy and seated posture. <a href=\"https:\/\/atypicalart.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Artist<\/a> Kasey McMahon then wrapped and layered hundreds of feet of CAT5 and CAT6 network cable by hand until the figure took shape.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rather than concealing the material, the construction leaves connectors, printed markings, and individual lengths of cable visible. Blue, gray and white dominate the figure, punctuated by strands of red. The work was fabricated in McMahon\u2019s Portland-area studio, a converted 120-year-old garage. The process moved between welding and metal fabrication, anatomical adjustment, and the slower work of wrapping and layering cable to give the figure its final mass and gesture.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker for networked age - 2\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-thinker-reimagined-in-steel-and-data-cables-for-the-networked-age-2-6ab347a6b2155.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\"\/><br \/>Kasey McMahon reimagines Rodin\u2019s Thinker using network cable<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Thinker is a reflection on bodies, networks, and technology<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The pose is familiar, but the material changes the question. The figure is unmistakably human, yet its body is made from the infrastructure through which human communication and information travel. The Thinker arrives amid an increasingly charged conversation about artificial intelligence and our relationship with technology. It doesn\u2019t attempt to resolve that tension. The figure simply sits, and thinks. The sculpture was privately commissioned and is now installed in Austin, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker for networked age - 3\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-thinker-reimagined-in-steel-and-data-cables-for-the-networked-age-3-6ab347a6b219d.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\"\/><br \/>the life-size sculpture combines a steel armature with hundreds of feet of cable<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker for networked age - 4\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-thinker-reimagined-in-steel-and-data-cables-for-the-networked-age-4-6ab347a6b21dd.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\"\/><br \/>network cable becomes the physical material of the contemporary figure<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker for networked age - 5\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-thinker-reimagined-in-steel-and-data-cables-for-the-networked-age-5-6ab347a6b221b.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\"\/><br \/>CAT5 and CAT6 cables are wrapped and layered by hand around the armature<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker for networked age - 6\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-thinker-reimagined-in-steel-and-data-cables-for-the-networked-age-6-6ab347a6b225f.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\"\/><br \/>layers of cable build the figure\u2019s final mass and contours<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker for networked age - 7\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-thinker-reimagined-in-steel-and-data-cables-for-the-networked-age-7-6ab347a6b229c.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\"\/><br \/>individual lengths of network cable remain exposed rather than concealed<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" bad-src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" alt=\"hundreds of feet of cable and steel reimagine rodin\u2019s thinker for networked age - 8\" width=\"818\" height=\"1091\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/the-thinker-reimagined-in-steel-and-data-cables-for-the-networked-age-8-6ab347a6b22da.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" lazyload\"\/><br \/>blue, gray, and white cables form the sculpture\u2019s dominant palette<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kasey McMahon rebuilds The Thinker from steel and cable \u00a0 Artist Kasey McMahon reimagines the contemplative figure for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134,1449,3811,3813],"class_list":["post-904302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-materials","tag-sculpture","tag-steel-architecture-and-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}